This work was written on my own during the summer and fall of 1963, just before and after my
twenty-first birthday. I had been studying composition privately with Samuel Dolin at the Royal
Conservatory of Music of Toronto and was in my final year of the Bachelor of Music programme at the
University of Toronto. I do not remember what possessed me to undertake such a large and
impractical project as a violin concerto—probably a large amount of naivety (albeit mixed with
plenty of enthusiasm). There was no performance opportunity and, in fact, this is the first
performance of the work (giving rise to the old adage that if composers can manage to live long
enough, virtually anything they write will eventually be performed—if they really want to hear it).
Nor do I remember what Sam thought of the piece, when I finally showed him the score. What I wrote
was a lyrical, full-length, three-movement concerto (fast-slow-fast), with cadenzas in the first
and last movements. Furthermore, in the outer movements, I used a trite little waltz-like passage,
which appears twice in each movement. The violin at first remains aloof from this but, by its
fourth appearance, becomes intimately involved. The slow movement is a set of variations in which
the theme is preceded by an introductory, cadenza-like passage for the violin. This variation
format for the middle movement was probably suggested by the Bartók Violin Concerto, with which I
was certainly familiar at the time.

At the time of my Concerto, I was writing what I thought was “dissonant counterpoint”, following
what I thought I understood of this in the music of Bartók, but in retrospect, it seems more like
“extremely awkward counterpoint” (or perhaps just “extreme counterpoint”!). In any case, coming
back to the work after more than forty years, I have made some very minor revisions in details of
pitch and instrumentation. Nevertheless, the work remains largely as it was in 1963.

I am dedicating this Concerto to the memory of Samuel Dolin (1917-2002), my wonderful teacher
and mentor, who always understood so well how to help his students realize their potential.